ECLOF
Philippines has supported 57 solidarity groups out of 132
active projects within the past three years of operations.
All projects are unique.
Solidarity
groups are made up of small entrepreneurs that have been
in business for some time and are willing to venture into
more productive activities. These groups have no legal entity
but are knowledgeable in the trade of their businesses where
most of their capitalisation comes from savings, or loans
from private individuals or moneylenders who charge high
interest rates.
News
from NECs 
Pilar
Ramirez, of ECLOF Bolivia and a leading figure within
the global ECLOF family, has won a prestigious prize for
her work within the field of micro finance.
Major
award for an ECLOF leader
The
Inter-American Development Bank has awarded Ms Ramirez,
who is president of Fondo Financiero Privado FIE S.A.
of La Paz, its Excellence in Social Entrepreneurship Award.
More than 100 candidates took part in the Inter-American
Awards for Microenterprise Development, which has five
sections. A prize giving ceremony was held in Barcelona,
Spain on 19 October at the invitation of the Catalonian
President Jordi Pujol.
Historic
ECLOF-Oikocredit Joint Seminar
A
joint ECLOF-Oikocredit seminar entitled ‘Signs of Hope,
Jubilee 2000 and Credit to the Poor’ took place at
the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva on 23 November to coincide
with Oikocredit’s 25th anniversary celebration and
the board meetings of both institutions.
The
seminar brought together the boards and staff of both institutions
to share and discuss why and how they are involved in working
with fair credit and creating new signs of hope for those
who are excluded from current credit systems.
Geneva
Board News
Since
1977, the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA), in co-operation
with EZE, has operated a community based savings and micro
credit program. Under the aegis of CCA’s Development
and Service desk, the programme works at village level.
It promotes people’s participation, and supports
self-help and sustainable development.
In
June of this year, the CCA ran a workshop in Manila, Philippines,
to evaluate the programme and explore strategies to improve
it. Around 25 people attended from nine Asian countries.
ECLOF Philippines organised field visits to micro finance
projects for workshop members.
After
my family, the bees. They are my passion and my daily
bread.
I
began to work with bees in 1978 to complement my income
but I never thought I was going to fall in love with them!
In 1996 I resigned from my job as a civil servant to dedicate
myself full-time to bee keeping.
In
spite of some heartache, due to bad harvests, I have never
regretted my decision; if I had to work in an office for
eight hours a day again I do not think I could adapt myself
to it.
At
the moment, I work on average for more than 13 hours a
day; sometimes over many weeks I do not have any time
off. However, I am doing what I love to do, and the freedom
to work with and live from what one loves is without price.
